Does Coffee Really Accelerate the Aging Process

Coffee is no longer just a beverage we drink in the morning to wake up, although it is still used for that purpose, it is now a great deal more. Not only has coffee changed in terms of what it means and how it is used and consumed, because of these changes, our frequency of use has changed as well.

Where we used to have one cup of coffee in the morning, individuals may consume two, even three or four cups of coffee a day. As the saying goes, too much of anything can be bad, and sure enough coffee presents a negative side effect to your skin. As it turns out, your coffee habit actually causes an acceleration in the skin's aging process.

How could a simple cup of coffee cause damage to your skin? After all, it's just coffee and it's natural, right? Well, yes, but that simple cup of coffee can, and does, indeed damage the skin. The issue with coffee isn't in that it is inadvertently bad for you.

The issue with coffee is that it is a diuretic. This means that it prevents the body from retaining the water it needs. As we all know, the body is mainly made up of water, and thus, water is an extremely important element in the body's health and healthy functioning. If the body is unable to retain the water it needs to function, it can become dehydrated.

Coffee and You

How Many Cups of Coffee do you Drink a Day?

It is this dehydration that specifically acts on the skin and accelerates the aging process. The skin needs to stay hydrated and retain moisture in order to appear healthy and vibrant.

Skin that appears to glow, is supple, and elastic is always skin that is well-hydrated. Failure to properly hydrate skin causes the skin to look dull and sallow. It also causes skin dryness, and this can range from moderate to severe dryness depending on the level of dehydration.

You're probably thinking, well, I'll just drink more water. That's a great idea, and a perfect solution. However, the key is to really up your water intake, not just have a couple full glasses a day. If you regularly drink coffee, especially if you regularly drink large amounts of coffee, you need to drink large amounts of water to counteract the dehydrating effects of coffee.

In general, you should be drinking around eight glasses of water a day. So, if you're drinking coffee on a regular basis, you'll want to increase your intake amount to about 12 glasses of water each day. This increase in water consumption will work against the dehydrating and age accelerating effects of coffee to help keep your skin healthy and glowing.

Source

Now, you've discovered the effects of coffee on the health and beauty of your skin, and what you can do to counteract it. However, it does get worse. Coffee alone dehydrates, but when you add in other ingredients, coffee can turn into a full on skin murderer.

Think about what generally goes into a cup of coffee. Most people couple their coffee with sugar and cream. Both sugar and cream are products that cause an inflammatory response within the body, and this can lead to chronic inflammation, and added age acceleration and wrinkle formation as well.

This is especially true of refined sugars that burn quickly within the body, drastically increasing blood sugar levels and insulin levels. Regular consumption of coffee and sugar and cream creates a situation of chronic inflammation, as well as dehydration, a duo sure to create sallow, dry, dull looking skin.

To counter this deadly combo, couple your daily coffee with ample water intake to rehydrate, as mentioned 10-12 glasses of water a day (and I'm talking about eight ounce glasses at least). Additionally, limit your dairy intake, small amounts of dairy are OK, but a non-dairy creamer can be used as a substitute several days a week as well in order to limit dairy intake.

Remember that you're probably already consuming dairy on a regular basis in order daily food and beverage items, so there isn't much of a need to add it to your coffee on a regular basis as well. It certainly isn't doing your skin any favors, and there are great alternatives available. In terms of sweeteners, try using raw, all natural sugar.

Natural sugars aren't as bad for you as refined sugars are. Raw sugar burns in the body slower than highly processed, refined sugars. While all sugar causes blood sugar spikes, refined sugars act more violently on the body, so opt for all natural options whenever they are available. You may want to think about other flavoring options as well. Adding a cinnamon stick to your coffee may not sweeten it drastically, but it does add a nice kick of flavor that makes for an extremely pleasant cup of coffee. Not to mention, it doesn't bring with it the added downside of chronic inflammation.

All in all, coffee isn't bad, but the amount you consume and the way you counteract it definitely can be. Failure to take into consideration the amount of coffee you drink and the amount of additional hydration that is necessary can cause significant damage to your skin, accelerate the aging process, and enhance fine lines and wrinkles.

Choose your daily routines wisely, and be sure to work in the routines that are necessary to keep your skin looking healthy, hydrated, and smooth.

Get Involved

I would love to know your option about this hub, do you have any top tips to share with the hubpages community if so use the box below and let everyone know what works for you.

The Share-Care Movement

The Share-Care movement is just something I've made up to get your attention :-)

But seriously please share this or any of my hubs on your twitter, facebook and G+ profiles it really helps people find information that is useful.

Comments

No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.

sending

Shyron E Shenko 2 years agofrom Texas

Hi Philip, I am sorry but I disagree with this assumption that coffee ages the skin. I drink in excess of 8 cups of coffee a day and have for many years and I look (I am told) at least 10 years younger than I am.

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)

Google AdSense Host API

This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Facebook Login

You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Maven

This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)

We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.

Conversion Tracking Pixels

We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.

Statistics

Author Google Analytics

This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)

Comscore

ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)

Amazon Tracking Pixel

Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)